An NFL Player Has A Startup, And He Has Applied To TechStars

The deadline for the 2012
TechStars New York spring class is approaching, and it's
gearing up to be the best bunch of startups yet.

(TechStars is a competitive three month
startup accelerator program. It's in multiple cities with no more
than 15 startups per class).

We caught up with managing director David Tisch who told us some
of what has been coming through the pipeline.

"We crossed over 1,000 applicants a bit ago, which was way ahead
of last year's pace (we didn't do that until the deadline last
time)" says Tisch. "I'd imagine we get 1,500 to 2,000
applications this time."

Applications are coming from impressive people too, and not just
from your typical tech stars.

While Tisch says 40+ applicants have previous or current
experience at Google, Apple or Facebook, there are also some big-name athletes
who have submitted their business proposals.

Tisch tells us one current NFL player and two former Olympians have
applied.

Five or more companies that have previously gone through an
accelerator program have also applied (although we're not sure
why they'd want to give up even more equity).